South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir (left) shakes hands with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni after signing a peace agreement in August 2015. Picture: AFP.

South Sudan and Uganda have made several resolutions including the deployment of a joint force, sharing of intelligence and a ban on the sale of land along their volatile borderline.

This was during a meeting held on the weekend in Yumbe District and attended by a South Sudan delegation led by the governor of Central Equatoria governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony.

Governor Adil and his counterparts in Uganda’s West Nile districts signed the agreement to bolster trade and peaceful coexistence between the two “sisterly” countries.

From the side of West Nile districts authorities, Taban Data Peter, the Resident District Commissioner of Adjumani inked the deal.

According to the resolutions drafted on Friday, the agreement entails a swift reopening of the border points at Kaya-Oraba and Afoji respectively.

It further stressed the need for a revival of communication between the SSDPF and the UDPF forces to build trust and confidence among the forces.

While reading the joint statement of the two governments, Adjumani District Commissioner Taban Data Peter said the meeting also agreed to have cross-border peace conferences held for productive border relationships in the future.

“Leaders at all levels at the border should be sensitive to the language and the statements they issue to avoid incitement,” Mr. Data said further reading the recommendations.

“The two governments shall address the issue of the deployment of the two armies in the area. The local leaders, landlords and traditional chiefs should be respected as the first line of the local problem-solution mechanism.”

“In the future, some of the meetings be conducted in South Sudan County for the purpose of balancing peacebuilding. We need to discourage land sell along the border as one of the major costs of the problem is a swift resumption of fuel flow or passage by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) through Kaya-Oraba and Afoji.”

Tension engulfed Central Equatoria’s Kajo-Keji County at the frontier with Uganda on September 25, 2023, as a local official said that UPDF troops have moved deep into South Sudan and were seen setting up new bases.

It is still not clear if the UPDF troops have withdrawn after the alleged incursion.

Prior to the incident, Central Equatoria government had called on communities in Kajo-Keji to leave the issue to the national government, after several incidents of border skirmishes and abductions were reported.

South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) Spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai, said the army has opted to allow the border tensions to be addressed through diplomatic channels.

– Colonial boundaries –

The modern-day international boundary between South Sudan and Uganda has its origins as a colonial administrative line separating Anglo–Egyptian Sudan from the Uganda Protectorate, both colonies then managed by the United Kingdom.

Today, it runs from the tripoint with Kenya in the east for approximately 500 km to the tripoint with the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the west.

However, there are several locations on the boundary that were originally described in unclear terms, which have led to at least two areas of boundary disputes between South Sudan and Uganda.

According to Sovereign Limits, lack of government control, problems with refugees, and general lawlessness in border regions have made demarcation and formalization of the international boundary between South Sudan and Uganda almost impossible.

– Kiir, Museveni assurances –

President Salva Kiir, on October 3, pledged to resolve the border disputes between South Sudan and Uganda after receiving reports on the issue, his office said.

On October 25, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni dispatched his Minister of State for Defense to Juba with a special message to his counterpart Kiir on the urgent need for the two countries to address the border disputes.

In a statement to the state-owned SSBC TV, Minister Hajjat Huda Oleru said the resolution of the border issues would help restore peaceful co-existence among the communities living along the common border.

“We have been sent today to meet the president of the Republic of South Sudan with a specific message and this is a message about our borders, the international borders that were created by our colonial masters and how we should not misuse these borders to stop our positive living, our harmonious living and our living together as two member States countries of East Africa,” Hajjat said.

According to the Ugandan Minister of State for Defense, this will spur economic transformation and socio-economic development in the region.